1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to antennas and more particularly to an antenna mount incorporating an antenna for use in the Global Positioning System (GPS).
2. Background of Related Art
GPS has become of critical importance in navigation of aircraft and many land vehicles, such as military vehicles. A GPS antenna is preferably mounted externally to a vehicle and is typically mounted in a separate housing. For certain applications, particularly for military ground vehicles, the antenna mount must be a rugged mount which can withstand substantial forces on the antenna, such as occurs in contact with trees or other structures. Many military tracked vehicles are armor plated and typically are provided with only two standard openings in the structure for antenna placement. With the proliferation of communication and navigational equipment in military vehicles, this limited number of openings is inadequate. Furthermore, armor plated vehicles cannot be readily modified to accommodate additional antenna mounts.
Known antenna mounts for military vehicles and the like, typically include a housing having an upper portion extending external to an outer wall of the vehicle and mounting a flexible antenna, while a lower portion of the housing extends through the vehicle wall for connecting the antenna to radio apparatus. Combination mounts for a GPS antenna in combination with a standard radio frequency (RF) antenna are known from the prior art. However, such mounts have to be especially designed and replace existing antenna mounts. Such replacement is costly, time consuming and typically changes the profile of the antenna mount to a significant extent. Furthermore, known combination antenna mounts are not designed to be rugged mounts that can withstand the forces on the antenna structure that is required for armored military vehicles.
It is desirable, therefor, to provide a rugged antenna housing for a GPS antenna. However, it is also desirable to provide a rugged GPS antenna structure without making further openings the exterior walls of the vehicle.